CAREER: Breaking the Tradition of Silence through Conocimiento and Consciousness Raising among Latinx Engineers

Latinx在工程中的代表性不足是多年来在工程教育界广泛讨论的一个话题。尽管拉丁裔人口继续增长，越来越多的拉丁裔正在上大学，但这一群体在工程学方面的学位获得率仍然很低。不同的学者认为，拉丁裔学生不追求工程职业，是因为学生的文化不适应“工程文化”。对谁属于工程学的狭隘概念未能认识和承认拉美裔学生的物质现实和生活经验，以及他们对工程学知识建构的贡献。通常情况下，拉丁裔学生的成绩被认为是一种缺陷，而不是属于工程学的一种资产。虽然有广泛的研究针对工程领域的Latinx学生，但目前的方法缺乏(重新)框架和(重新)定义从基于资产的角度对Latinx进行研究所需的内部视角和方法。在不了解拉丁裔学生的语言、文化、实践或信仰体系的情况下，研究人员过去对拉丁裔和其他边缘化学生群体的思维和学术工作的看法是错误的。为了反驳这些缺陷观点，有必要验证拉美裔工程专业学生的日常生活经验，并承认他们是知识的持有者和创造者。这项研究旨在为培养更具文化响应性的教育工作者和研究人员提供一条途径，他们关注拉美裔工程专业学生的生活经历。其目标是提供更多关于如何通过设计一个框架来支持边缘化的工程学学生的信息，该框架支持通过转变进行学习，同时承认康涅狄格和推荐信是工程学中产生知识的形式。这项工作有助于不断增长的与以学生为中心的倡议相关的知识体系，工程学领域的多样化，以及确定可能延续或缓解工程领域拉美裔学生所面临和感受到的逆境的制度实践。这项三阶段多地点的人种学研究试图(1)探索Conocimiento的概念，因为拉丁裔人理解工程学中的不利经历，(2)识别和分析工程学中排他性话语的结构性障碍和模式，以及(3)开发一个整合Latinx认识论和方法论的模型，以扩展基于资产和文化响应的工程学教育研究和教学方法。研究的第一阶段集中于收集和分析拉丁裔工程专业学生的证词，以揭开谁可以被认为是知识生产者的传统学术思想。这一分析探讨了Latinx工程专业的学生如何在经历工程之旅的过程中协商并使他们的生活经历具有意义，同时记录他们的Conocimiento。第二阶段包括对制度规范的分析，以及这些制度规范是如何传达和(重新)产生的，以确定制度实践的不同形式，在这些形式中，制度实践可以延续或缓解拉美裔工程专业学生所面临和感受到的逆境。最后，第三阶段涉及开发有助于(重新)构建工程教育研究和教学的基于资产的方法的方法。这项研究提供了由拉丁裔撰写并为拉丁裔学生编写的方法，以对系统障碍、阻力、坚持性和代理进行理论和分析，以此作为在工程教育中培养包容性文化的一种方式，并扩大拉丁裔工程学学生的参与和学术成就。从这项研究中产生的证词、康西米恩托和方法论支持了全国拉丁裔工程学学生的倡导工作，并帮助打破了拉丁裔铁板一块的神话，以防止重复拉丁裔有固定的社会结构的说法，这干扰了增加拉丁裔工程学人数的倡议的有效性。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Latinx underrepresentation in engineering is a topic that has been widely discussed in engineering education circles for many years. Although the Latinx population continues to grow and more Latinx are attending college, the degree attainment for this population in engineering continues to be low. Different scholars have argued that Latinx students do not pursue engineering careers because the cultures of students do not fit the “cultures of engineering.” The narrow conceptualization of who belongs in engineering has failed to recognize and acknowledge the material realities and lived experiences of Latinx students and their contribution to knowledge construction in engineering. Oftentimes, the conocimiento and testimonio of Latinx students is perceived as a deficit rather than an asset that belongs in engineering. While there is a broad range of research that addresses Latinx students in engineering, the current approaches are devoid of the insider perspectives and methodologies needed to (re)frame and (re)define the ways of doing research about and with Latinx from an asset-based perspective. Without understanding the language, culture, practices, or belief systems of Latinx students, researchers in the past have come to deficit views of Latinx and other marginalized student groups’ thinking and academic work. To counter these deficit views, it is necessary to validate the everyday life experiences of Latinx engineering students and recognize them as holders and creators of knowledge. This study seeks to provide a pathway for the development of more culturally responsive educators and researchers that attend to the lived experiences of Latinx engineering students. The goal is to provide more information on how to support marginalized engineering students by designing a framework that supports learning through transformation while acknowledging conocimiento and testimonio as forms of knowledge generation in engineering. This work contributes to the growing body of knowledge related to student-centered initiatives, the diversification of the engineering field, and the identification of institutional practices that may perpetuate or alleviate the adversity faced and perceived by Latinx students in engineering. This three-phase multi-sited ethnographic study seeks to (1) explore the concept of conocimiento as Latinxs make sense of adverse experiences in engineering, (2) identify and analyze the structural barriers and modes of exclusionary discourse in engineering, and (3) develop a model that integrates Latinx epistemologies and methodologies to expand asset-based and culturally responsive approaches to engineering education research and teaching. Phase 1 of the study focuses on the collection and analysis of the testimonios of Latinx engineering students to unravel traditional academic ideas of who may be considered a producer of knowledge. This analysis addresses how Latinx engineering students negotiate and make meaning of their lived experiences as they go through their engineering journey while documenting their conocimiento. Phase 2 consists of an analysis of institutional norms and how these are communicated and (re)produced to identify the different forms in which institutional practices may perpetuate or alleviate the adversity faced and perceived by Latinx engineering students. Finally, Phase 3 involves the development of methodologies that contribute to the (re)framing of asset-based approaches to engineering education research and teaching. This study provides methodological approaches written by and for Latinxs to theorize and analyze systemic barriers, resistance, persistence, and agency as a way to foster a culture of inclusivity in engineering education, and broaden the participation and academic attainment of Latinx engineering students. The testimonios, conocimiento, and methodologies emerging from this study support advocacy work for Latinx engineering students across the nation, and help dismantle the myth of the Latinx monolith to prevent reproducing the narrative that Latinxs have fixed social configurations, which interferes with the effectiveness of initiatives to increase the number of Latinxs in engineering.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.